A career in dental hygiene puts you in a position to help others while working in a growing, lucrative field. Working as an oral healthcare professional is a great choice for many reasons, but it’s not for everyone. Before spending the money, time and effort to become a registered dental hygienist (RDH), it’s important to know as much as possible about the job. Here are a few things to...

Can dental offices classify dental hygienists as independent contractors, instead of as employees? There’s no shortage of people willing to offer opinions on the matter—practice owners, hygienists, teachers, consultants. Often, they all fall into one of two camps.

Some will tell you that a dental office is completely within its rights to treat you as an independent contractor, if that’s what...

Can dental offices classify dental hygienists as independent contractors, instead of as employees? There’s no shortage of people willing to offer opinions on the matter—practice owners, hygienists, teachers, consultants. Often, they all fall into one of two camps.

Some will tell you that a dental office is completely within its rights to treat you as an independent contractor, if that’s what you agreed to. Others will tell you that it’s straight up illegal for a dental office to classify you as an independent contractor.

Employers have a tendency to hire new talent and assume that the hard work is done. The truth is that onboarding a new dentist or dental hygienist is often just the beginning - the beginning of a long adjustment period, the beginning of training and assessment, and the beginning of all the paperwork, especially if you’ve made the mistake of relying on a turn-and-burn temp agency that has its bottom line in mind rather than your own long-term needs. After the placement agency fills your job opening, who has to deal with the results, whether good or bad? You, of course.